Federal grant boosts wetlands research

A new wave of federal funding will support Delaware efforts to understand, research and protect hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands throughout the state.

Nearly half a million dollars in federal grants will supplement the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's project, “Building Resiliency for Delaware's Wetlands,” intended to gather data on wetland locations and conditions, develop site-specific monitoring data, update statewide tidal wetland maps and improve public outreach and education.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the three-year Wetland Program Development Grant for more than $443,000 to DNREC in early October.

The grant “will enhance our ability to assess the conditions of our wetlands and identify specific stressors on these vital systems," DNREC Secretary David Small said in a press release. "This information is critical to ongoing restoration and protection efforts and will further bolster our library of wetlands data that is valuable to our state and our partners in the mid-Atlantic region."

While some specific wetland area projects are targeted in upstate locations – C&D Canal, Red Lion Creek and Smyrna River watersheds – that grant also will fund statewide research and analysis efforts.

Wetlands cover nearly 25 percent of Delaware's land mass, with nearly 150,000 acres – 47 percent of all wetlands – found in Sussex County.

Environmental Scientist Alison Rogerson said wetlands are vital to keeping nutrients and pollutants out of local waterways, provide flooding buffers and major habitats and nurseries for a variety of wildlife.

“They are such a major part of Delaware, and they do so much in our everyday lives,” said Rogerson, who works with the state's Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program. “They're keeping water off roads so we can get to work and school. They're also keeping water out of your basement to keep your house from flooding. If you love animals, they're really great habitat for them.”

Without research and restoration efforts, both natural and manmade losses will continue to reduce the acreage of marshland, which Rogerson said would have economic as well as environmental impacts.

“If you don't have wetlands cleaning your water and need a water treatment facility, it would cost millions,” she added. “It's easier to let them function naturally than try to replace what they do for us.”

Rogerson said Delaware has lost about 3,000 acres of wetlands in the last 15 years.

“That's scary because they provide security for recreation, water quality, the environment and valuable species,” she said. The grants are a good investment toward understanding wetlands and restoring them, she added.

Part of the three-year grant includes a landowner survey intended to gauge interest in landowners' interest in voluntary incentive programs to save wetlands from development and become stewards of those natural resources, Rogerson said.

“We're trying to engage people in understanding and seeing how important they are and how beautiful they are at the same time,” she said. “No matter where you live in the state, there's a forested or coastal wetland near you.”

Most of Delaware's wetlands, including thousands of acres of rare wetland habitats, fall on private property. “That's why it is important for people to understand and value them – because they are held by mostly private landowners,” Rogerson said.

Brenna Goggin, an environmental advocate with the Delaware Nature Society and Wetlands Advisory Committee member, said education is the fundamental key to people understanding and appreciating wetlands.

“In order for residents to believe that wetlands have value, the state needs to believe that wetlands have value,” she said. “Wetlands are not just wet, boggy, mosquito-ridden ground. They're nature's kidneys. And most importantly, they provide a barrier between us and whatever nor’easter or hurricane we may face. Like in Star Trek – it's shields up. Our wetlands are our shields.”

Some of the targeted research and programs that will be funded with the three-year grant were borne out of ideas from the Wetlands Advisory Committee, which was formed in summer 2013 after Gov. Jack Markell signed Senate Bill 78 create the committee. More than two dozen members represent state, municipal, environmental, business and engineering fields to develop comprehensive recommendations to improve the state of wetlands in Delaware.

“Wetlands are such an important resource because of the functions they provide, so anytime the state is investing and leveraging its investment with federal dollars to help understand and protect its resources, that's a great thing for the people of Delaware,” said Chris Bason, a member of the Wetlands Advisory Committee representing the Center for the Inland Bays.

Bason said the mapping of tidal wetlands is an especially important facet of the new funding because the current mapping has not been updated since the late 1980s. As sea level rises, Bason said, it's important to map tidal wetlands to update their current locations as they migrate landward and also to understand the real impact of sea level rise.

“As those wetlands move inland, the map stays static. Redoing these maps will ensure that those new wetlands are provided the protection they [need],” he said. “We want to at least know how they're faring with sea level rise.”

Bason agreed with Rogerson that working with private landowners is key to protecting vulnerable wetlands.

“If anything can be done to help protect those wetlands and engage those landowners, that natural heritage will be protected,” he said. “Funding for wetland monitoring is so important.”